


Tell Me It's My Name Written In Your Skin

by darlingsdream



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, First Love, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Insecure Lance (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) Angst, M/M, Mutual Pining, Oblivious Lance (Voltron), Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Romantic Soulmates, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, mutual idiots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-29
Updated: 2020-03-29
Packaged: 2021-02-23 02:04:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23370655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darlingsdream/pseuds/darlingsdream
Summary: In a world where everyone was made for another, Lance hopes one day he will meet the one he was destined for. However, some things don't always seem the way they are.----In which Lance falls hopelessly in love with Keith, but fears it may be an unrequited soulmate issue.It's not.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 400





	Tell Me It's My Name Written In Your Skin

**Author's Note:**

> Before this begins, I'd like to just say a few little words!
> 
> This was written by me and a few of my friends, Gracie, Adri, and Jules! We are all writers on a co-owned Wattpad account called PhoenixForces. Together, we originally planned to write a small one-shot together... but it ended up a bit longer because I got carried away with my parts!
> 
> In any case, we hope you enjoy <3

_ “ A soulmate isn’t someone who completes you. No, a soulmate is someone who inspires you to complete yourself. A soulmate is someone who loves you with so much conviction, and so much heart, that it is nearly impossible to doubt just how capable you are of becoming exactly who you always wanted to be. “ _

_ -B.s.  _

Everyone had a soulmate, just like everyone needed oxygen to breathe; it was just common knowledge. Just like how you needed water to live, you needed a soulmate to ground you, to lead you to better things in life. Growing up, Lance knew there wasn’t one person who didn’t have a soulmate in his life. His parents were soulmates, his older sister Veronica was soulmates with the neighbor’s kid, his older brother Marco was soulmates with his childhood crush, and even his twin sister Rachel had a soulmate at just fifteen. She never did tell him who it was though, coming to think of it, but that never really mattered to him anyway as long as she was happy. All he knew was everyone was destined to have a soulmate, and that was that.

He remembers distinctively at the age of five his kindergarten teacher, who was always so bubbly and frankly reminded him of his grandmother, teaching his class about soulmates. He remembers the summed up way his teacher would easily put it; that your soulmate was made for you, that they were created in mind to drive you to be your whole and true self in each way, and once you’d fallen in love with them, you would just. You would know they were yours and you were theirs. People always said you’d never experience a crush unless it was toward your soulmate.

To Lance, soulmates weren’t anything new, and sometimes the knowledge of them would get trapped in the back of his head, pushed under all the other responsibilities he had as a Voltron Paladin. So when Allura’s timid words came out in quick spur to Hunk beside him, it felt like a hard punch was thrown his way.

“Oh, Hunk,” Allura gasped quietly. “What are those markings on your wrist?” She spoke quickly and quietly trying not to grab the other Paladin’s attention, but it was too late. Lance perked his head up from the tablet he had in his hands filled with star constellation maps just in time to see Hunk’s head snap down to his lap as he turned his wrist in an odd direction.

The other gasped, and suddenly, an uneasy weight rested in Lance’s chest. How could he have forgotten so easily about soulmarks?

Pidge perked up from the other side of the table, glasses hanging low off her nose as she quirked an eyebrow up in confusion. She pushed them up with one finger, eyes flickering from Allura who stood behind Hunk to Hunk’s face. Taking a look down at Hunk’s wrist, it was hard to miss the large and bold blocky letters he never remembered being there before.

**_SHAY_ **

A warm smile pulled on Hunk’s face, just the slightest curve of his lips and the dipping of his eyebrows. Lance’s stomach swooped in a manner that reminded him of being on a boat as he averted his eyes back to his star constellation map tablet. How was it possible to be soulmates with someone who wasn’t from the same planet? Could that, and would that apply to him as well?

Almost guiltily, he let go of the tablet, holding it loosely with one hand instead. He turned his wrist over slowly, staring longingly at the smooth bronze skin that stared back at him. The other wrist held the same fate, wordless and markless. Dropping both hands back onto the tablet he shook his head, there was no way his soulmate would be out in space. Hunk was lucky, Hunk was the loving person everyone wanted in their lives, of course, the universe would be kind to him.

“It’s a soulmark,” Hunk finally replied, breathlessly as he brought his wrist closer to his face. “It identifies who your soulmate is.”

“Soulmate?” Allura parroted back, leaning in closer to Hunk when he offered her his wrist. She inspected it for a moment, eyes softening. “Shay,” she tested, eyes flickering back up. “She was that lovely woman from the Balmera, correct?” Hunk nodded in response, pulling his arm away slowly and running his thumb over the printed words.

They still kept in contact, Lance knew that, so something must’ve changed for her to fall in love with him. It looked like it had been his first time seeing the mark.

“Congrats, buddy,” he found himself saying, forcing a smile to stay on his face as he extended an arm over his friend’s shoulder and patted him. It wasn’t that he wasn’t happy for Hunk, because if anyone deserved happiness in the world, it was him! But he couldn’t help the sickening feeling that he left his soulmate back on Earth where they’d never have someone’s name on their wrist, and he’d never have one on his either.

When he retreated his arm, there was a choir of “Congrats!” shared across the Voltron table and one voice that particularly surprised him; Keith.

He was sitting on Lance’s other side, a similar tablet held in his hands. There was a loose, but meaningful, smile on Keith’s face as he looked over to Hunk. That was unexpected he vaguely thought before Pidge began speaking from the other side of the table.

“Do Alteans have soulmates, Allura?” Pidge quipped up, placing her own tablet onto the table.

“I don’t understand what you mean by soulmate,” she replied rather quickly. “I don’t think it’s a term we use.”

“A soulmate is someone who you’re destined to be with,” Pidge began to explain to her kindly. “They said the Goddess of Love, Aphrodite, pitied the humans after she fell in love with one, and for that, each human was destined to have someone made for them out in the universe. We can only fall in love fully with our soulmate, and once we have, our name will appear on their wrist.” She smiled happily, looking over excitedly to Hunk. “And it looks like someone’s in  _ love  _ with Hunk! Haha! I was right!”

There was a beat of silence before Allura was speaking again. “We do not use the term soulmates” she spoke softly. “We have something that would roughly translate to your heart companion,” she explained. “We are given matching altean markings on our ankles, though, I was never born with one, meaning I was never destined for a heart companion. It’s more common than not in Altean culture to not have one. Some Alteans were meant to write their own destiny.” Her voice was quiet, timid as she shook her head.

She straightened up suddenly, smile returning. “I am very happy for you, Hunk! May I ask, do you all have soulmates?” 

Heavy tension settled into the air quickly, and it was hard for Lance to not curl in on himself at the question, attention back on his tablet. Of course, they all had soulmates, but what was the likelihood of all of them meeting them now up in space?

Lance’s soulmate was definitely on Earth right now, searching and waiting for him, and he’d never return. His heart sank at the thought of disappointing yet another person, let alone the person he was supposed to be there for, the person he was literally made to motivate and push. Of course, everyone had a soulmate, but sometimes, sometimes you never get the chance to meet them and that’s the sad part. Though, there were sadder parts to soulmates, like being someone’s soulmate but them not being your soulmate.

It was rare, but it happened.

“We all have one, it’s just the matter of if we’ve fallen in love with them or even met them,” Pidge spoke, not matter of factly, but more informative, almost sad sounding. “I haven’t met my soulmate,” she tacked on before putting both her wrists in the air in defeat. She shrugged after, dropping them to her sides.

“I haven’t either,” Lance sighed, sending a loving brotherly smile to Pidge, hoping it conveyed  _ ‘hey, you’re not alone here’ _ type of vibes. 

“Neither have I,” Keith spoke quietly beside him. There wasn’t a distinctive emotion in his tone that Lance could put tie together to being either sad or happy about that statement. Turning his head just slightly, he glanced at Keith out of the corner of his eyes. He was slouched in his chair, tablet sitting in his lap.

Looking up to his face, Lance noted how Keith’s eyes flickered to his own hands, going back and forth between his wrists, lip jutted out just the slightest as he looked back up. Out of his own curiosity, he looked back down to Keith’s lap where his hands sat limply on the tablet, wrists facing upward. The cuffs of his leather gloves wrapped around his wrists tightly, covering them from the world. Did Keith ever even take those off? How could he tell if he had a soulmate or not with those on?

“I found mine.” Shiro spoke, pulling Lance out of his focused trance. Looking up to the head of the table, Shiro sat with a relaxed posture, a genuine smile on his face. “We were supposed to get married when I got back to Earth... Looks like it’ll be postponed a few years.” And he laughed, a short and breathy chuckle. 

And Lance felt sick. His heart was heavy. How could Shiro just laugh it off like it was nothing? Did he just, what, accept the fact they wouldn’t be returning to Earth for some years now?

His poor soulmate was probably worried out of their mind.

“He’ll understand,” Shiro went on to say. “He worked at the Garrison, he’ll know I’m okay, one day.”

“Optimism,” Pidge sighed. “I need that.”

There was another beat of silence before Allura was pulling at her hands, returning to her head of the table. “I apologize, Paladins. I didn’t mean to hit a soft spot,” she spoke elegantly as she sat down, tucking her hair behind her ears out of nervous habit. Lance couldn’t help but pick it up, she did it often during lectures and debriefs. “I will be sure to not bring it up again.” She gives them a pained smile before placing her hand on the table, a hologram showing up. She cleared her throat as a map appeared similar to what was on Lance’s tablet not long ago.

“In any case, let us continue our mapping of this galaxy before we move onto the next galaxy...” The rest of her words were left a mystery to Lance as he found himself looking back to his side where Keith was. He gave a subtle nudge in the other’s direction, looking for any sort of distraction to rid the heavy pit in his chest.

“Bet I can fill out my planets in the galaxy before you can,” he challenged in a whisper, finding it the first thing he could think of.

Keith was looking up at him in a moment flat, determination filling his expression. “Oh, you’re so on.”

He couldn’t help the way he stared at Keith’s profile as the other looked away, watching his eyes settle on his tablet with a fiery determination that he’d often see during battle. He couldn’t help the way he noticed Keith suck in his lower lip just the lightest, top teeth coming to rest on it as his hands began to fly across the tablet.

He didn’t even mind the fact he’d given the other a headstart by the time he started charting his quota of planets, his heart suddenly pounding against his ribs with force. He felt his limbs come to life with a certain determination as he began typing as fast as he could.

He brushed it off as the feeling he’d get during a challenge, just adrenaline pouring into him.

Because, of course, it couldn’t be anything else. At least that’s what he kept telling himself over and over again until suddenly, he couldn’t find any more reasons to just simply brush things off like they meant nothing to him.

Of course, the universe in spite of him, had to start making it all mean something to him.

* * *

The first time that Lance found himself confused with his feelings for a certain Red Paladin was weeks after the whole soulmark incident with Hunk.

It wasn’t uncommon for Lance to get stuck in his own head, not when his thoughts were so messy sometimes and he couldn’t even focus on one thing at a time. So of course, sleepless nights weren’t anything new for him. They had come along long before becoming a Paladin, but had gotten worse with trauma and uncertainty. Killing wasn’t easy. Being one of the five defenders of the entire universe wasn’t easy. How was the universe so sure he was supposed to be one of it’s defenders when half the time he couldn’t even keep himself sane? 

The first wave of confusion started when Lance went to his usual  _ “I can’t sleep spot” _ on the castle and found he wasn’t alone, for the first time.

He walked onto the observation deck with careful foot steps, taking in the person who sat comfortably on the deck’s floor. His foot steps weren’t as quiet as he’d expected, startling himself when Keith perked up and turned his head over his shoulder in a quick motion.

“I’m sorry,” Lance breathed out in a whisper despite them being the only two in the room. “I can go if I’m disturbing you.” He motioned back to the door of the bridge timidly. He was surprised when he saw Keith deflate and shake his head before patting the ground beside him.

Taking it as an invitation, he walked over to Keith and settled down beside him, pulling his knees to his chest out of pure habit.

“I know you come here sometimes,” Keith confessed. When he looked over, he saw the other fidgeting with the cuffs of his gloves. “I couldn’t sleep either. I guessed you’d be here. I hope you don’t mind.”

“No, no, I don’t mind,” Lance was quick to reassure because he knew first hand that sometimes being with someone else helped the insomnia and thoughts. He knew Keith couldn’t have been that much different than he was, he knew that at some point all of this would get to him. It was hard for it not to.

This was war, afterall.

“Do you, uh, want to talk about it?”

There was a beat of silence. It wasn’t awkward, not even tension filled either. It was a calming silence, basking just in each other's presence.

“I know you all miss Earth,” Keith started with a sigh before turning to meet eyes with Lance, leaving him feeling all too much. “I know you miss Earth, a lot,” he pointed out with a small dip in his lips, leaving Lance with a frown as well. Was it that obvious?

“I don’t have anything to miss, and sometimes it bothers me,” Keith confessed without hesitation. His words clung to Lance for a moment, leaving him in shock.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, I have no one waiting for me.” Keith frowned, turning his head from Lance. He pulled up his own knees to his chest similar to Lance. “You have a huge family waiting for you, Lance. You talk about them a lot, and I know they’re waiting for you. Everyone’s parents are waiting for them, but-” He paused, breathing out heavily before pressing the heels of his palms to his face.

“All I have is here in space. I’ve only had Shiro, that’s all I have.”

Lance could feel his heart beating in his ears, his stomach swooping down in a nauseating feeling.

“You have all of us now too,” he found himself speaking confidently. Hesitantly, he reached out toward Keith, placing a hand on his shoulder in what he hoped was a comforting gesture. “You have me?”

Keith broke out into a laugh, just a simple huff and his hands were dropping to his sides and their eyes were meeting again.

He saw Keith’s eyes light up in that moment with something Lance never saw before, and he was breathless.

“I know,” Keith replied with confidence before turning, ducking his forehead down to make contact with his knees. A small and timid, “Thank you,” followed that left Lance questioning the heat that rose in his cheeks.

* * *

The second time where Lance was confused on his feelings was the following day in the common room. He, Hunk, Pidge, and Allura were already sitting around the raised table, explaining Earth games like Truth and Dare, monopoly, DnD, and whatever else Pidge could remember. At some point they started talking about their lives at the Garrison, and Lance found himself sitting back a bit.

Lance was sitting idly on the couch beside Hunk, basking in their conversation, not really contributing much to it but enjoying it over the normal silence of the castle when Keith had walked in with a book hanging loosely from his hand.

It was like Keith’s eyes searched him out, seeing as the moment he stepped into the room their eyes met. Feeling his cheeks rise with heat, whether it was from embarrassment or something else, he averted his eyes back to the table.

The conversation came to a halt when Pidge perked up from the table. “Hey, Keith!” She greeted like she always did. “We’re talking about the board games and stuff we did to keep ourselves busy at the Garrison. Wanna join?”

His response was hesitant. A simple, “Sure.”

Lance sat ridgid on the couch as he watched from the corner of his eye the way Keith walked around the couches before settling on his other side. He laid the book he had brought with him on the cushion between the two, and out of curiosity, Lance glanced down at it only to see a brown covered book without any words on it.

“Personally, I’d help in the culinary kitchen. They were always looking for extra hands to bring things in or out, it was a good way to pass the time and it always smelled so good in there,” Hunk continued from where he’d left off. Allura nodded before making a comment about how he still was always helping in the kitchen and they laughed.

“Spent most of my time trying to figure out how to hack into their mainframe network to scoop up any information about the kerberos mission,” Pidge supplied next before looking over to Keith. “What about you, Keith? Any interesting hobbies you had at the Garrison?”

Keith scoffed at that, leaning back into the couch in a similar way like Lance had been. “Reading, if that counts for anything, but other than that I spent most of my time studying and training.”

Lance couldn’t help himself but laugh. “Typical, Mullet,” he teased, realizing there really was no bite to the comment like usual. When was the last time he actually found himself challenging Keith, anyway? Months ago maybe.

He remembered how competitive they used to be; Lance edging Keith on into some race, anything he could think of to find a way to show Keith he was worthy of his attention. Then, out of bitterness, he picked and jabbed at him when he’d lose. His jabs were the only things that got a good rise out of Keith, that got him to actually look at him.

But lately, he didn't need those jabs.

Keith looked over to him with a daring expression, eyebrow raised. “Typical?”

“You’re always training, man,” he laughed. 

“Just like to keep in shape.”

“That is something a gym junkie would say.”

“I guess I was a gym junkie back on Earth?” Keith confessed with a shrug before turning to look between them, picking up his book. “I don’t always train though, I actually do some other stuff.”

Lance took another look at the book, still unable to pick up any noticeable words on the book. It was just a coverless book it seemed like. He noticed Allura saying something, and suddenly Hunk and Pidge were speaking over each other, but he paid no mind to it.

“What types of books do you read?” He found himself asking out of pure curiosity. He never really pinned Keith to be someone who was actually interested in books, not with the masculine persona he always put up.

The confusion finally hit when Keith gave a simple response.

“Uh, romance- actually.”

And suddenly he was going into cardiac arrest. He never imagined  _ Keith Kogane _ to be a sappy romance reader.

* * *

Lance starts to notice there’s moments like this more often between him and the Red Paladin. Moments where after the interaction, he was second guessing it, wondering why his heart was pounding against his ribs like a steady drum. Moments where he stood rigidly beside him, unsure, not all that confident in what exactly he was doing anymore.

He’d noticed it during their dinners when they’d have separate conversations from the group. No one ever said anything and neither did they about it, because honestly, it felt normal. They’d talk about everything and anything, and the comfort it brought Lance had his heart screaming.

He noticed it when they trained, and a few times Keith offered to have one-on-one hand-to-hand training with him. They’d have idle conversations in between fights, usually Lance making jabs at Keith saying he would most definitely beat him and Keith taking that challenge head on. He could not beat him, matter of factly, and had found himself pinned to the training deck by two abnormally strong hands on more than one occasion.

It wasn’t that this was exactly new to him, but it was normal enough that he really shouldn’t be in shock anymore. He wasn’t exactly sure what took over him at that very moment.

They were planet side as Allura made a coalition contract with the planet's leaders. She had asked the Paladins to stay near their base, so they were outside in what looked like a grassy field with some of the planet's inhabitants, hanging idly. Lance was sitting under a large purple tree, basking in the warm sun of the planet with his eyes closed when he felt an even warm hand wrapped around his own so quickly that it had him sitting up in action. When his eyes opened, he was just inches from a set of beautiful grey-blue eyes that blinked owlishly back at him.

“Keith, buddy?” Lance yawned, pulling his head back slightly. “Whatcha doing?”

Keith didn’t reply, instead, a warm hand was pressed to the side of his face. Pale and lean fingers traced the side of his face, earning a harsh intake of breath from Lance when Keith pulled away.

“You’re going to burn if you’re in the sun much longer.”

Before Keith could do anything more stupid, Lance was pushing him back with the lightest effort. Keith leaned back, hand slipping from his as he landed on his butt a few inches away from Lance.

And then, he  _ laughed. _

“If anyone’s going to burn out here in the sun, it’s going to be you!” Lance pointed out through Keith’s laughter.

And no, it wasn’t just a huff of a breath like he usually raised out of the other. It was a full belly laugh that left Keith shaking in front of him, shoulders hunched forward and head ducked down as an unholy  _ snort _ left him.

Keith Kogane was a  _ snorter. _

“You’re as pale as a ghost, man!” Lance tried to quip, hoping to save himself from the awful realization that Keith’s laugh was actually kind of beautiful and that he was a  _ snorter _ .

But when Keith looked up to him in the next moment, it was like the world had ended. Their eyes met, and Lance could see how Keith’s eyes were glassy with tears from laughing and how his normally porcelain cheeks were tinted red, the back of his wrist raised to cover his mouth.

And suddenly, there was no more brushing off what he was feeling anymore.

Lance couldn’t explain the reason his cheeks would heat up whenever he saw Keith. He blamed it on frustration and anger, there was nothing more to it. But, he realized there were more things that would change when he saw him. His hands would fiddle, he would dig his nails into his clammy palms, and even rub the back of his neck. There was something about Keith’s voice that was so flattering, so luminous. He noticed that whenever he would challenge Keith, it was because he admired the determination on his face. How driven he was just to win, it made Lance smile. 

He desperately wanted his attention and he didn’t know why. It wasn’t just his voice, but that laughable mullet of his. How badly Lance wanted to run his fingers through his ebony black hair, just to see Keith flustered. How he wanted to stare into his eyes for a lifetime. It couldn’t be love, he thought. 

His eyes were wide now, the realization hitting him. All the things he liked about Keith overwhelmed his mind, all the things he prayed he wouldn’t believe came true. Lance wanted to kiss that foolish forehead of his after a mission. He craved to see his eyes light up whenever Lance called his name. He longed for his gentle eyes to glance into his own. Lance felt anger, yet he couldn’t help but want to cry. 

Everyone around him had a soulmate. He grew up in a household where they all had met their soulmates, but him. His heart pounded against his chest, his hands growing sweaty. Blood pounded in his ears, he needed to run. Lance needed to run somewhere, just anywhere. But, he couldn’t. He had to remain sitting there with hundreds of thoughts entering his mind, only one becoming prominent.

He loved  _ Keith _ .

He wasn’t sure if there was a time where he could pinpoint when this all started. It all added up, an accumulation of all the small moments that had his heart pounding. Missions melded together, all the moments they had together blurred, and it just seemed like one huge mess of emotions and internal screaming. But after all, it just all seemed  _ right,  _ like this is where he was meant to be.

And suddenly, it hit him hard in the chest a second time.

If he loved Keith, then that could only mean one thing.

_ Keith Kogane _ was his soulmate.

* * *

Life continues after that, just like Lance expected. He wasn’t necessarily expecting the world to just end, not that easily at least. But during his epiphany, it had seemed like Keith didn’t pick up on any of it, and Lance wasn’t sure if he was supposed to thank the universe or curse more at it for the positions it constantly decides it wants to put him in.

He didn’t say anything to Keith, it wasn’t some huge confession. They weren’t even a thing, and yet, Lance was in love with him hopelessly. Was Keith going to find it weird? How was he going to react when he saw Lance’s name on his wrist one day?

He knew how Keith was, and Keith was the type of person who ran when it became too much. 

So, he avoided a confession. He avoided asking Keith if he’d checked his wrists lately for a soulmark. Avoided the L word because it was too much.

But as days became weeks, and weeks became months and Keith didn’t say anything to him, he started to worry.

Keith continued acting like his normal self around him, although a less bit angry and broody and a bit more open and cheerful instead. It was like nothing happened. 

Was Lance wrong? Was his name not written on Keith’s wrist?

He knew he  _ loved _ him, that’s what it had to be. There was nothing else that added up, and yet, Keith never said anything to him. But it wasn’t like he could just go up to him and be like,  _ “Oh, hey, so I may be a bit in love with you and never felt this way before with anyone so maybe we’re soulmates?” _

Because that would be one way to scare him off. Though, as time passed on and Lance waited for the unavoidable to happen, there was no, “Lance,  _ you  _ are my soulmate?” No, “Um, Lance, I think we should talk.” No, “Hey, your name just appeared on my wrist today?”

There was nothing, and it made his stomach turn unhappily.

Lance watched with careful eyes from the other side of the room as Pidge spoke animatedly to Hunk. The moment didn’t last long, and shortly Pidge was bidding her goodbyes, saying something about checking on something Coran had been talking about.

The guilt and anxieties of the whole soulmate thing was starting to eat away at Lance. Once he was sure Keith was gone and out of ear range, he begged all of the tension he felt to ease.

“Hey Hunk,” Lance says, walking up behind his close friend. “Can I ask you something?” 

Hunk turns around to look at Lance, the same friendly and warm expression as always on his face. It seems brighter than before now, though, as if that was even possible. “Of course, dude. What’s up?” he says as he pulls a chair out from under the table and sits down, his full attention now on Lance. 

“How did you figure out if Shay had your name on her wrist?” Lance asks as he sits down as well in response to a hand gesture Hunk makes, encouraging him to sit as well. Hunk furrows his thick eyebrows at the thin boy next to him, a small smirk rising on his face. “I just asked her. I mean, if she was on my wrist, and I fell for her too, why wouldn’t it be? That’s not normally the case.” he said, a spark of mischief still burning in his chestnut colored eyes. “So…” he started.

“Oh sweet Jesus.”

“Who in the universe do you think is your soulmate?” he asks, his smirk fully visible on his face now. “Is it Allura? Or maybe Pidge? No, probably not Pidge. Unless it is!” he laughs heartily at his own comment. Lance fails to give a response, though, so Hunk continues pushing for answers. “Is it Keith?” he says, followed by a burst of the same hearty laughter from how absurd he finds his own jokes. Which it was, and Lance knew this. It was absolutely ridiculous to even consider it. Just the mention of his name sparks a reaction in Lance, though. His heartbeat gets a little faster at the mere mention of Keith. Every single time. 

“Oh um, I think it might be Allura…” Lance trails off awkwardly, his cheeks heating up as he says it. 

“I didn’t think Allura worked like that, since she’s, like, an alien.”

Lance’s eyes widen a little when he realizes this. Thinking off the top of his head, he gives Hunk a shaky, poorly versed reply. “I don’t know… I guess I just, I have a feeling I do. Maybe Aliens feel it too or..something.”

“I mean, if you feel it, you feel it.” 

Lance lets out a forced laugh and lets his eyes trail off to the left of him. Keith instantly catches his eyes, even without his bright red jacket on. All he’s doing is walking by and it gives Lance a fuzzy feeling across his whole body, something he can’t even manage to put into words. “Hey Hunk,” Lance starts, his eyes still following Keith as he walks across the large dining hall of the ship. “How should  _ I  _ approach finding out if my hunch is right?”

“Just go up and ask her.”

“No, that would be way too straightforward.”

“Lance you’re only capable of being straightforward.”

“Not with this one, Hunk.” Lance’s tone is stern, this matters a lot to him. He knows already he can’t be straightforward with Keith,the last thing he wants is to accidentally scare him off. This needs to be subtle. Lance realizes Hunk looks a little taken aback as he reconnects his attention to the conversation, since Keith has finally left the room. “First of all, you don't have to give Keith the death glare everytime you see him, you know that, right?”

“Wait, what?” Lance asks, confused. ‘ _ Did I miss something?’  _

“Just now, Lance, you spent the entire three minutes he was in here staring him down. You don't have to worry about him taking Allura for himself. I don’t think he even likes girls, dude.” Lance’s stomach feels like it's in the universe’s hardest to untie knot. “Oh, yeah. I don’t know, I just don’t like him. There’s just something about him that irks me,” Lance says through gritted teeth. 

_ Why am I lying about this? _

“It’s whatever. What should I do, Hunk?”

“Well, if you want to keep it on the down low, maybe try asking the group at dinner tonight like a casual question.” He suggests. “If it goes right, she might pull you to the side and tell you her wrist says Lance, and yours will say Allura. You’ll melt into each other and fall in love for forever!” Hunk exclaimed, batting his eyes, followed by sticking his tongue out and making a fake gagging noise. “Make sure you get a room for all of our sakes.”

Another forced laugh. “I guess we’ll see what happens.”

“Yeah. I think I need to go check on the food though, see you later Lance. Best of luck tonight, I’ll be there rooting you on.”

* * *

Lance sits impatiently at the dinner table, tapping his fingers against the glass like Altean substance it’s made out of, glancing around anxiously. Meeting eyes with Hunk, he is greeted with a reassuring smile, but sees Keith, a dull sense of confusion wiped across his pale face, his eyes locked with Lance’s. Just the simple form of acknowledgement sends chills down Lance’s spine. With each ongoing week, day, hour even, the feeling gets stronger and stronger, it almost makes Lance feel sick that it could be one of  _ those  _ situations. His stomach turned at the thought of it, as if he just remembered an embarrassing childhood situation, or just got rejected, despite nothing even happening yet. This has never been a problem for Lance, but then again he had never felt this way about anybody. It was so much different than flirting with academy girls now. 

This is a matter of if he just had stumbled into his fate or not, if his fate really is just to be alone.

It feels like life or death for Lance. 

Dinner is like it normally is, everyone is laughing, talking. Discussing past and future missions. Everything but Lance, that is, is normal. Lance is quiet, caught up in his own thoughts and fears. Eventually, the team began to realize this. 

“Lance, are you okay?” Shiro eventually asks. Lance lifts his head to look at the concerned friends in front of him, staring at his solemn face. “Yeah, I’m okay. Just thinking.”

“What about?” Pidge questions. Lance’s heart skips a beat.

“I was, uh, thinking about soulmates.” He starts, Hunk smiles, encouraging him on. “Has anyone else gotten a name on their wrist?”

Lance’s heart felt as if it was racing now, as each person says no, the result becoming unanimous. Everyone answered but Keith. Lance felt a cold sweat on his body, unsure how to feel about his lack of a reply. Hunk looked saddened, still believing it was Allura. After a moment of silence, Pidge is the first to speak up. “What about you, Keith?”

Keith looks at Pidge and shrugs. “Not that I know of, not that I care, either.”

Lance felt his heart shatter. Before another person can speak, Lance abruptly stands up from his seat. “I need to go to the bathroom, I’ll be right back.” He says, the tone in his voice stone cold. Hunk opens his mouth, as if he’s about to say something, but Lance is already walking out. So Hunk gets up too, following short behind Lance.

“Lance, I’m sorry about Allura--” Hunk starts, only to get cut off by Lance, his tone distraught as he speaks. “It’s not about Allura, it’s Keith, it’s always been Keith, but I was too scared of it, too scared to confront him.” he says, making sure to keep his voice down. 

“And you know what’s the worst part? My biggest fear came true.”

➼➼➼

Days later, the castle’s alarms were going off. With whatever strength Lance could muster up, he pulled on his armor and made his way from his bedroom, where he’d been hiding in like a sanctuary, to the bridge of the Castle where the rest of the team was already waiting for him.

Hunk made eye contact with him for a moment, frowning just the slightest before turning back over to where Coran and Allura stood behind him.

“A new galaxy system, new distress beacons to investigate!” Coran’s excited voice pulled the team in around the hologram. Lance tried to ignore the way he stepped in place beside Keith, tried to make himself think it was just out of habit rather than his body searching out Keith personally to keep him in his orbit.

Because no, that was not the reason and couldn’t be the reason, afterall, dinner the other night really solidified that for him.

“We picked up several distress calls from this planet in the past varga,” Allura started in, pointing to the planet that showed on the hologram. “This will just be a recon mission to see if everything checks out. The distress call has been nothing but simple clicks,” she explains, clicking on the hologram planet. More screens appeared with images of the planet close up.

“We did a full planet scan, they used to have peaceful inhabitants, but the scan hasn’t picked up on any living life forms, and there has been no sign of the Galras. We’ll be sending you guys down to disarm the distress beacon. Since there’s been no sign of the Galra, we suggest it’d be easiest to take two lions. Shiro, Pidge, and Hunk, you three take the Yellow Lion while Keith and Lance, you take the Red Lion. We’ll establish contact when you’ve landed on the planet.”

They filled wordlessly off the castle’s bridge, walking to their respectful hangars. Lance followed after the heels of Keith towards the Red Lion’s hanger, disappointment still lingering in his gut. Who would have thought he’d be the unfortunate person to have an unreciprocated soulmate, or at least, a soulmate who could care less about having a soulmate. 

He was definitely sure what he felt for Keith was love, there’d been no other explanation or any other feeling he’d felt for someone else that had been so prominent before. This was love he felt, that was certain to him. Or at least it was certain to him before.

He tried to ignore the uncertainty he felt as he followed in step beside Keith toward the elevator down to Red's hangar, keeping his mouth shut as they entered in sync, the door shutting behind them abruptly.

“You’re being awfully quiet,” Keith commented as the elevator jolted down. “What’s wrong?”

“Automatically assuming something’s wrong?” Lance forced a laugh, taking in Keith beside him. His arms were crossed over the chestplate of his armor stiffly. He tried to pretend he wasn’t mad. Tried not to let out the yells he wanted to let out, because that wasn’t fair, not to Keith.

“Yes,” the other deadpanned. “You’re never this quiet. You haven’t even made fun of my hair yet,” he pointed out, cocking his head to the side to get a better look at Lance.

Swallowing thickly the guilt that started rising in the back of his throat, Lance scoffed. “I was going to say, your mullet was looking better than usual today, but now I’m not.”

“You were going to compliment me?”

“As if!” Lance huffed, deflating beside Keith. “And I’d like to let you know, I am usually this quiet!”

“No, not really,” Keith tried to reason, looking toward the elevator doors. “I’m sorry for assuming... You just seemed out of it, that’s all.” From the corner of his eyes, he watched as Keith’s arms dropped to his sides loosely. “You know you can always talk to me, about anything, right?” He spoke detached, not turning to face Lance. “I know I’m not the best with my words, but if you just need someone to listen to, I’m here and always have been.”

Swallowing the words was hard like a pill. Lance stared at the back of Keith’s head in astonishment, mouth a jar. He felt the sudden urge to run, run until he couldn’t run anymore and stay wherever his feet brought him. But he couldn’t, because he was trapped here, in an elevator with his unrequited soulmate.

Fan-cheesing-tastic.

Keith had to go and make this whole situation worse, because that was just a  _ Keith thing _ to do. 

Lance knows he sees the signs that add up to them being soulmates, or at least that he was Keith’s soulmate. He’s known for years that he’s gravitated toward the hot-head, whether it was in The Garrison during the simulation flights and he was pushing himself to be better, pushing himself to get the attention of the quiet middle fighter class pilot, pushing for better grades to get one of the top fighter pilot spots, or even after Keith dropped out and Lance found himself searching in the shambles of his wake for something to keep him driven to continue his best. He even followed him into space, fighting tooth and nail to keep up with him, to do his best, to fight with all his will, to just get a slither of the other’s attention.

He knew Keith drove him to be his best self whether he meant to or not. He knew Keith was always the end of the road, whether the other meant to be or not. He knew Keith was always the one with open arms in the end, even though he wasn’t a hugger.

Looking over to Keith now, he could have sworn there was a smile on his face, even from this angle, and he ached. He hated how long he had desired for his smiles to be directed to him. He hated how he wanted to see Keith’s eyes light up with whatever happiness he could offer the other.

And it was terrifying to think he wasn’t the end of Keith’s journey. If there wasn’t supposed to be a place for Lance in Keith’s life, why did he keep following him the way he did? Why was there this gravitation that begged him to keep coming, to never let go, to just hold on-

“I know,” Lance said, giving in, because there was really nothing else he could do. He couldn’t avoid Keith the rest of his life, not if they were going to be Paladins of Voltron. Not if he was truly his soulmate, or half soulmate, or however else he could put it.

He left it at that, hoping Keith would say something else. To his surprise, he turned, eyebrows pinched together and turned upward. “Why don’t you talk to me then?” Keith questioned, sounding offended almost.

Before Lance could give a sloppily put together excuse, the elevator doors were opening. Thanking the universe’s timing for the first time, he pushed past Keith, shuddering. “We don’t have time for this, Keith,” he spoke through gritted teeth, trying to keep a steady voice.

Keith squaked offendedly behind him, something similar to what he would do if the tables were turned. “What do you mean we don’t have time for this, Lance!” He called after him, stomping somewhere behind him.

Lance pulled through toward Red who’s shields were down. “We don’t have time to go over an issue that doesn’t exist, because there isn’t one,” Lance hurriedly explained, making it to Red before Keith could catch up.

“Obviously, there is, or we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” Keith tried to stress as they made it into Red. “You’ve been ignoring me for days. Did I do something?”

If you had kicked a puppy, and it took human form to give you a pleading look after, that would be Keith in that moment Lance thought when he whipped around, heart soaring into his throat when he saw the look in the other’s face. Confusion, disappointment, and worry melting all into one heartfelt expression.

“You-” He choked on his words, taking a step back into Red away from Keith. It was all too much for him. “You didn’t do anything wrong,” he finished strongly, swallowing thickly the fear he felt. He turned on his heel abruptly, walking up Red like it was his own lion.

“Let’s get going, Keith. We’ve got business to attend to!”

Keith didn’t push after that, holding his silence the entire ride down to the planet, not even speaking a word as they met with the others on planet side. Shrio made contact with Allura, establishing they had just landed and asking for coordinates. Lance tried his best to ignore the way that Keith stood behind him in silence, shoulders tense and arms again crossed over his chest. Instead, he focused on Hunk and Pidge who were smiling and talking about the beautiful pink and yellow flowers that were about Pidge’s height.

“Alright, team,” Shiro started, grabbing everyone’s attention. “Allura said the beacon should be this way, it’s on the outskirt of the planet’s beach area.” He pointed to the trees that towered stories above him. “We’ll need to go through the woods, but it’s not far.”

“Beach?” Keith questioned from behind him before he could even process what Shiro said. When was the last time they had even seen a beach? Lance couldn’t help but smile at that, the thought of a beach, and maybe the thought of Keith being excited about a beach too.

The team fell in step behind Shiro, following after him wordlessly. Keith walked in front of him, sword out to hack at the foliage that stood in their way, Shiro using his arm to clear up most of the path. This is how most recoin missions would go, Lance thought. It was simple, normal,  _ safe _ from the overwhelming thoughts of his own life. He listened carefully to the shuffling of Pidge and Hunk behind him as Shiro and Keith hacked away in front of him. 

He kept a good few feet behind them to avoid the branches and leaves that flew back with each hack of Keith’s sword. Though, as he stared ahead of himself at the path the two effectively created, he pretended he wasn’t subtly watching the way Keith’s shoulders drew back with every slash of his sword, his hair blowing toward the opposite side of his hits.

It wasn’t long before Lance could see the blue waters of the planet’s ocean through the leaves of the tree. He tried to bottle the excitement he felt over flowing in him when Keith paused, turning and meeting eyes with him automatically. 

“We’re almost there,” Keith spoke with eagerness before turning around again and following after Shiro.

Lance found himself pausing. Was he talking to him?

When he turned around to see if the others had any explanation he saw Pidge with a smile, hurrying to meet him. When he looked over to Hunk, he held a small solemn smile, shaking his head before following after closely behind Pidge.

With a small sigh of relief, Lance began to turn around again when something caught his eye. There was movement in the forest, just the slightest, but definitely enough to have Lance jumping out of his skin. He froze, turning to where he’d seen a flash of white. As he stared into the hundreds of trees and branches in front of him, he was met with nothing. He started to walk slowly now down the trial, hand hovering over his thigh. There was no way he hadn’t seen something, because surely, he had seen something. 

He felt Pidge brush up against his side suddenly, slowing down beside him. “Lance? Did you see something?” She whispered at his side, walking cautiously. He gave a curt nod and nothing else, eyes scanning the entire forest around them with carefulness. He felt Pidge press a hand to his side, keeping herself tucked at his side.

That’s when he saw it, another flash of white. The figure was moving just as slow as them toward the beach. They were too far to make out, but he could see dark purple armor over lean white bodies, claws, and potential weapons. 

Then there was another, and another, and another flying past the first figure toward the beach, right where Shiro and Keith had just finished making their trail.

He was reacting before his brain could process it, a more of an act first, think later, kind of a moment. His bayard was in his hands, transforming into his sniper-rifle as he shouted down the trail, Pidge jumping away from him.

_ “It’s a trap!” _

He felt the adrenaline spike hit immediately, pulling him into action.

The leaves in the forest began to sway and crunch as groups of the white figures emerged, blood curdling screams emitting from them as they charged toward them. Before Lance was making another movement, he caught Keith and Shiro turning around where they stood at the start of the beach, eyes wide as they turned.

There were gunshots, and Lance was moving down the trail.

He heard Hunk’s voice behind him shouting for Pidge before the tall tale sign of Hunk’s large blaster starting up began. The ground shook under Lance, but despite the tremors running through his body, he kept running.

Lance dodged the bullets coming his way, ducking just in time. He brought the scope of his sniper to his right eye, finger tight on his trigger as he paused halfway down the path. He pulled the trigger several times, watching as white figures with featureless faces and long arms hit the ground, their bodies dropping into the hundreds of branches below them.

Turning over his shoulder in one quick moment, he saw Hunk holding Pidge behind him, blaster going off in steady waves.

Knowing they were safe, he was turning back down the trail, legs carrying him before he could think. Shiro was further down toward the beach than he remembered, two of the white tall beings grabbing at him. His arm was lighting up, flashes of purple blinding Lance from the scene.

Lance looked back to Keith who still remained between the opening of the jungle and beach. His sword was out in front of him steadily as he fought off the oncoming attackers from the right side of the forest, huffing and throwing their bodies toward the beach after he was done with them.

That’s when Lance finally saw movement from the left side of the forest too.

Turning, he saw another being, taller than the rest with a gun that looked a lot like the galra’s blasters in hand, standing a few yards behind Keith.

It was another act now, think later action when Lance threw his sniper into his left hand, throwing it over his right shoulder as his right arm flanked out to the side, running full speed toward Keith. In one hurtful motion that sent Lance’s arm bending in a direction it shouldn’t have, he was diving down to the ground, avoiding another round of bullets and lasers as his arm collided with Keith’s middle, pulling him to the sandy beach in a messy heap.

Lance landed his helmet first into the sand, his head hitting roughly against the back of his helmet. He tried to ignore the sound of blood rushing in his ears as the back of his head erupted with pain, his vision spotting with multiple colors.

Keith gave off a grunt from his side when they hit the ground. Despite the pain blooming through his body, Lance sat himself up on an elbow, shooting off several rounds over his shoulder behind him hoping he was hitting something. When several loud thuds hit the ground at his feet, he was satisfied enough to look over to Keith whose eyes were blown wide with surprise.

“What the hell, Lance!” Keith was shouting as they tried to get up. “I could have taken him!”

“I got it, didn’t I?” Lance huffed breathlessly, turning toward the forest again where hundreds of the white figures now staring him down.

There was no way any of their short ranged weapons were going to be helpful. It was up to Lance and Hunk now. Dropping to a knee without another thought, scope to his right eye, he started rapid fire toward the crowd, hoping it would be enough to keep them at bay. 

So much for peaceful inhabitants, he thought bitterly as his shoulders cried in protest against the recoil of the sniper-rifle.

“Allura, Coran!” Shiro’s voice called over the comms in his helmet. “It was a trap! We’re under attack!”

Allura’s voice crackled over the comms next. “We’re bringing the castle down now! Try to get everyone to the beach!”

Still shooting his rounds off as fast as his trigger finger would let him, Lance could hear Keith shouting from behind him. “Hunk! Pidge! Try to make your way down here!”

It was a few more painful moments of trigger pulling and target aiming before he felt two worried hands grabbing at his shoulders, pulling him up. “C’mon Lance!” Keith was shouting, pulling and grabbing him from the opening as he heard a rush of footsteps trample like elephants behind him.

He let Keith drag him blindly onto the beach, still focused on keeping the planet’s inhabitants back at the tree line. He pulled at his trigger with anger, heart rattling and blood pumping hard.

“The beacon is right here, take cover!” Shiro’s voice was demanding and needy, pulling his attention just for a moment.

When Lance turned, he saw the base of the beacon. Keith pushed him behind the beacon first, forcing him to crouch behind the steal base. He crouched in front of him, hands resting on his shoulders. He couldn’t hear a thing after that. All he could hear was his wrecked breathing and the sound of his own heartbeat in his ears.

His vision was blurry, he noted, as he looked up to Keith who seemed to be shouting, to their feet where he saw the water of the ocean lick at Keith’s boots. His head was pounding, his right arm not feeling too hot, and his shoulders burning from the recoil of his sniper.

“What were you thinking!” Keith scolded in front of him. When their eyes met again, Keith looked furious, eyebrows drawn down tightly, heavy breaths escaping him. He could hear Hunk’s gun shots in the background, holding off the inhabitants.

“You have a concussion,” he heard Pidge gasp somewhere from his side.

Suddenly through a wave of nausea, Lance was pushing Keith away from him abruptly. “‘m fine, ‘m fine,” he spoke through gritted teeth, looking up and around them to see the beacon was basically a foot beside the ocean water, and that Hunk and Shiro were standing on the sides of it, holding off the inhabitants attacking them.

Lance was standing again too, and again, Keith was there, standing in front of him.

“They’ve got this handled now, you already did a great job,” Keith tried reassuring him as he ushered him to crouch again, but he refused, pushing back against him.

“No- no, I’m fine-” He tried to fight back, pushing away at Keith’s hands that tried to touch him. “Seriously, you need to-!”

That’s when Shiro yelped. When Lance turned, he saw Shiro grab at his shoulder before dropping to the ground lifelessly, still yelling. 

One of the faceless white creatures was facing them now, gun pointed directly toward them.

Without a second thought, Lance was standing fully again, pushing Keith back with all his might. Even through the blurriness of his messy shaken up head, a single thought rang out to him like a beam of light.

_ Protect him _ .

In a quick motion, he brought his sniper up and let off two shots.

Two shots too late, actually.

A bullet from their gun hit right into the side of Lance’s helmet, causing his head to turn with an awful crack. Black seared his vision as Lance felt his hands drop his bayard.

And suddenly all he could feel was cold water engulfing him.

* * *

Several things happened at once that left Keith needing desperately to empty the contents of his stomach, bile rising slowly up the back of his throat, burning it. The sound of bone shattering and armor cracking echoed in Keith’s ears over and over again, leaving his ear drums ringing in protest, crying for help.

The scene played out too quick. Keith was quick, he knew he was, but he wasn’t quick enough to react when Lance was shoving him back and he was falling into the cold water of the ocean. He watched in petrified shock from the rocky waves that seeped through his suit as he watched Lance’s body jerk back inhumanely, his body going limp as his head flew over his shoulder.

He heard Pidge scream from behind him as he watched Lance’s bayard fall to the ocean first before his body. Gasping, he was sitting up through the waves, eyes boring into the still figure of Lance’s body.

“Lance!” His voice was wrecked as he pushed through the waves. He dropped to his knees and grabbed Lance’s shoulders as quick and delicately as he could, pulling his upper body from the ocean.

He propped Lance’s limp body on his knee, a hand cradling the back of the other’s head. He could only see one half of his helmet, but he knew the other side was where he’d been hit with the bullet.

“Lance, can you hear me?” His voice cracked as he took his free hand, searching for Lance’s hand in the water beneath him. When he felt the warmth of his fingers through the water, he grabbed desperately at his hand, feeling the slickness of the gloves around both of their hands. He stayed as still as he could, ears tuning out the screams behind him as he watched Lance’s chest carefully, watching it slowly rise.

Pidge was splashing through the water at his side, running around Lance’s body and dropping to his other side. She let out a wrecked gasp, turning her head away quickly with a mouth moving to cover her mouth under her helmet. “Oh my God,” she gasped, and when Keith looked up, he saw it.

Lance’s entire right side of his helmet was caved in. There was blood seeping through the broken glass of his visor.

Everything was a blur after that. He saw Shiro splashing through the water, holding tightly to his shoulder. He was speaking, yelling, shouting to Hunk, but Keith couldn’t make anything of it. Blood rushed to his ears, pounding as he felt his heart scream.

He squeezed Lance’s fingers in his hand tightly, holding him closer to his chest.

“You’re going to be alright,” he tried to comfort when he felt tears flow down his cheeks. “You’re going to be just fine... Coran’s going to put you in a healing pod and you’ll come out in a few hours...”

He wasn’t sure who he was comforting, himself, who was crying over Lance’s body, Lance himself, or the hysterical Pidge who sat waist deep in the water with him, holding onto Lance’s hand desperately.

He could hear Allura saying something to them, Shiro shouting, and Hunk asking what was happening, but he didn’t say anything as he stared directly toward Pidge, his throat feeling tight and his entire body suddenly shaking.

They were going to lose Lance if they weren’t quick enough, Keith knew that as he watched the water around them turn crimson.

He wasn’t ready to lose someone else.

Not again.

_ Not Lance. _

_ Never Lance. _

“God damnit, stay with me, Lance!” He shouted as more tears rolled down his face. He didn’t even care as he stared down at Lance, his grip on him tightening. He stirred finally, head lolling to the side as he slowly squeezed Keith’s hand back in reassurance.

“Not going anywhere,” Lance got out between breaths. “ _ Keith _ .”

The dam broke, a sob finally leaving Keith. It was a foreign sound to him as he heard another leave him, and another, and another. He felt the tears leave him in a constant river and he couldn’t help it. Of course Lance had to go and actually say his name rather than a jokingly harmless nickname that he would usually say. It hurt, burning a hole through Keith’s heart.

He never was the type of person that needed anyone before. He had himself and he didn’t need anyone besides himself. He had been let down too many times before by people, whether it was his own family, his foster parents, or even the Garrison. He vowed to himself the only person he would need from then on was going to be himself, because that was the only person he could truly rely on.

But that wasn’t true anymore.

Lance was always there. 

Lance was reliable.

Lance was everything he needed and more.

He  _ needed  _ Lance.

He needed Lance’s constant nagging to keep him going, because if he didn’t have that, he’d only have his own thoughts yelling at him to push forward and that never had the same effect. He needed Lance’s reassurance, because he understood. Lance always understood, because he was Lance, and Lance just  _ got it.  _ He always had the right word to say, always knew how to lighten the mood.

His smile brightened a whole room. Hell, his smile could light up a whole  _ planet _ .

And Keith needed that.

Keith needed that light.

“Keith!” Shiro’s voice grabbed at him. He was looking up suddenly, unable to really make anything out through the tears that clung to his eyes. “Allura’s about to land, we got most of the creatures away, we need to go, now!”

He remembers someone helping him out of the water and Hunk rushing to him, insisting he could carry Lance, and carefully took him through his soaking wet arms. He remembers Pidge clinging to his side, pulling him back to the sand and how his body shook violently with coldness and tears as he leaned onto her for support.

He remembers being pushed up into the castle numbly behind Hunk and Allura saying they have the lions and to focus on getting to the medbay.

He remembers sitting in the infirmary in wet armor, watching as Coran delicately removed the shattered helmet from Lance’s head before they ushered him into the healing pod.

“You just got him back in time, Paladins,” Allura spoke with relief as she gathered them in the infirmary. “The pod says it may only take a few hours. He’d taken some very serious brain trauma.”

True to her word, Lance came tumbling out of the pod by dinner time, quickly engulfed by Hunk and Pidge. He stayed for just a moment, but just a moment long enough for Lance to recognize his presence in the corner of the room. Suddenly, the room was too small despite it being so large, and there wasn’t enough air in his lungs, and his feet were moving before his brain could think.

He was running down the castle halls, his feet pounding against the ground similar to how his heart felt against his chest.

And suddenly, life wasn't normal after that.

* * *

Keith couldn't get the thought of what had just happened the week prior out of his head. It almost felt like it hardwired itself into his brain. Lance risking his life for the team wasn’t an unordinary action for him to take, but something about it left Keith feeling breathless and sick at the same time. Of all the people he’d go and take a bullet for though, it was Keith.

He’d felt it before this feeling before, the feeling of your breath being wiped from you, but it was different this time, refreshing almost. Normally there's a good reason for it, like when he’d take a hit from a Galra soldier. This was inexplicable, a brand new feeling. Ever since it all first happened, Keith has had the same feeling every time he saw Lance. When he wasn’t with Lance, he yearned to see him. It didn’t make sense, but it felt right. It was the first thing that’s felt right in months, frankly. 

It felt like a lot of things clicked in place while sitting waist deep in a crimson stayed ocean.

“Hey, buddy, you okay?” a voice snaps Keith out of his thoughts. He snaps his head up to look in the direction of the voice that called him. Keith locks eyes with the person who the voice belongs to, to see Lance standing above where he sat. The one person he really couldn’t see right now, not with his thoughts still haywire. Keith immediately pulled his elbows off of the table and straightened his posture. 

He cleared his throat before speaking. “Hey Lance.” His hands grew sweaty almost instantly, and his heart rate increased. He worried Lance might even be able to hear his beating heart. “Am I having a heart attack?” Keith mumbles to himself. Staring off into his own little world, searching for answers. “This makes no sense,” he continued to himself.

“Keith, are you alright?” Lance asked, more concern in his tone of voice this time. He reached out and grabbed Keith's shoulder, and Keith’s stomach felt like it dropped. He pulled himself away from his friend’s grip, his eyes wide as he stood up. 

“I think there’s something wrong with me. I’m going to go lay down,” Keith muttered, already walking away. His face felt like it was on fire. It almost made him angry that he couldn't even manage to talk to Lance without feeling flustered. 

He felt bad for abruptly leaving, especially since he’d been basically avoiding Lance like the plague since he stumbled out of the pod, but there were some things he needed to work out with himself before he could even focus on anything else.

Keith stumbled into his small bedroom, astonished by the weight of his feelings. All he could think to do was to flop across the white bed spread of his space cubby. He laid flat for a few moments, feeling his heart slowly settle back into his chest. Just as everything finally felt calm again, Keith felt another wave of heat take over his body, irritating the skin around his wrists as the leather from his gloves dug into them.

Keith looked down to his gloves for a moment. They were a garment passed down from his actual father, something that was tossed around with him through foster homes.

He started wearing them around thirteen when he became aware of what soulmates really were. It wasn’t like he hadn’t heard of them before then, the world basically revolved around them, but he never really paid attention to it before. It never mattered that much to him because he knew in the end, somehow, some way, they’d leave.

People always left.

Well, almost everyone.

So, he saved himself the heartbreak and never looked at his wrists. He’d take the gloves off to shower and when he changed into the paladin under an armor suit that had gloves, and usually he’d never look at his wrists.

He’d just become accustomed to it, an old habit a thirteen year old engraved into his head. But, suddenly, he found himself pulling at his gloves, eyes still trained on his wrists. He knew they’d be empty, they had to be. Who’d fall in love with him?

Yet there was hope. Hope for something he couldn't quite put his finger on.

He really was expecting there to be nothing there, just pale porcelain skin. But he felt fear rise in the back of his throat when he removed both of his gloves, only to see one clean wrist, the other sprawled with black inc.

He was rushing off his bed, tumbling over his own feet as he threw his gloves to his bed like he was punting a football, and he wasn’t really sure if he was throwing them out of excitement or anger. He threw his hand over the light switch, blinded by the change in lights for a second before his eyes adjusted.

If there was any time Keith wanted to puke more, it would be now.

There, written in neat cursive over his right wrist was a name he’d never expected to see.

**_“Lance McClain.”_ **

If the world hadn’t ended before, Keith was sure it did now. He dropped his arm violently to his side, pressing his other forearm against the wall of his room. He pressed his forehead against his forearm, eyes closing with a deep breath.

He stayed like that for a moment, trying to catch his breath. This had to be a joke.

Pulling away from the wall, he pulled his wrist to his face again, licked his thumb, and pressed it against the words roughly, scrubbing. When he realized the words weren’t rubbing off like ink, he stopped, staring at the red blotchy skin and bold words.

“Oh my god,” he spoke to himself, dropping his arm again. “Oh my god.”

Of all names to be written into his skin, it had to be Lance’s.

An uncomfortable weight hit him, urging him to bring himself to the floor. He curled in on himself, bringing his knees to his chest and rested his chin between them.

The first thing that happened was relief rushed over him. He couldn’t help the smile that curled on his face. 

Lance was his soulmate, and he  _ loved him _ .

Lance loved Keith for him, and it had Keith laughing, but that didn’t last long. Whatever happiness was rolling through him stopped coldly.

How long? How long had Lance’s name been there without him even knowing? How long had Lance been in love with him without him even knowing?

The next thought that Keith could think of was, was his name already on Lance? Whatever he felt, whatever the mess of emotions that roared through him, that had to be love.

Nothing was more confusing than what he felt for Lance, but at the same time, it all felt so  _ right. _

But suddenly, he felt a wave of sickness hit him hard.

He told the team he didn’t care if he had a soulmark not that long ago. He knew Lance heard, he  _ watched _ him walk out right after.

Despite how awful Keith knew he was with social cues, some things finally began to add up to him. Lance, becoming more softer, backing down from fights and not jabbing at him with the same force he’d done back when they’d first met. Lance, seaking him out more often, listening to the confusing thoughts he’d spue out because he never was good with words. Lance, avoiding him after that dinner. Lance, sacrificing himself for Keith in the middle of a war.

Lance knew damn well they were soulmates.

And suddenly, Keith knew, he messed up big time.

* * *

Lance was letting the warm water run over his tan skin in the shower. After Keith had stormed away from him, he went back to his room to get some alone time. He really did need it, especially after everything that had happened in the past week. 

He was tempted to run after Keith, to ask what was wrong, because that's what their friendship had become. They were each other's support systems, weren’t they? However, the past week he’d avoided him like the plague itself, and it left a sour pit in Lance’s stomach.

He began to rub the soap around his body, closing his eyes and humming to himself. He did this for a minute, opening his eyes to rinse the soap off. He turned over his arm to wash it, almost slipping in the shower as he did so. There he saw a black name, looking almost like a tattoo. 

**‘Keith Kogane’** was sprawled across his wrist in a familiar blocky handwriting.

“I must be seeing things again,” Lance softly said, putting his wrist down. He let out a soft sigh as he turned off the water and stepped out into the cool air, taking a towel and drying himself from neck to toe. He had to be just imagining things; Keith could never love him like that. 

That was until he looked down again. The black writing was even clearer now, standing out against his skin tone. He shook his head in disbelief, trying not to think about the possibilities that came from this. It couldn’t be true, His heart had to be playing games with him, and he was not here for it. 

Lance ran out of his room after frantically pulling on whatever clothes he grabbed first, turning the corner before frantically knocking on Keith’s door. He didn’t know what brought him here first, maybe out of rage? Out of pure instinct?

It hit him hard in the gut suddenly.

Keith really had to be his soulmate.

Keith really loved him.

He loved Keith, and yet, even months after that realization, Keith never mentioned to Lance  _ once _ that his name was there on his skin. Was Lance’s name really not there then? There had to be a mistake...

Maybe he was wrong. Maybe Keith was his soulmate and he wasn’t his.

But that wouldn’t have added up? So many people said they could never hold romantic feelings for someone who wasn’t their soulmate.

When there was no answer on the other side after multiple knocks, Lance frantically turned the corner again and fell against the nearest door. Heat formed behind his eyes, and he covered his mouth with the back of his hands as wrecked breaths escaped him. 

He was on the verge of crying for the first time in a very, very long time.

When he felt the cascade of warm tears begin to flow, he knew there was no way to stop them.

In a millisecond, the door behind him opened. Lance fell backwards with a muffled shriek, staring up at a concerned Pidge. She looked at him with a tilted head, sighing as she reached out a hand for the boy to take. 

“Lance, it’s the middle of the night,” she said with a worried smile, “Why are you sitting against my door and sobbing to yourself like you don’t have friends you can talk to?” 

Lance didn’t say anything; all he did was hold out his wrist for Pidge to look at. A shocked expression formed on her face, and she gestured to her bed for Lance to sit on. The boy walked over, still holding out his wrist as he held in the tears that could have easily fallen out at any point.

“Well, that’s a shocking turn of events. I don’t really know what to say about that, but I can assure you that it’s good to have a soulmate! You make it sound like a terrible thing,” Pidge let out a tiny giggle, “Plus, we’ve all seen the way you look at each other. Shiro and I have known about your little crushes for a while. We were just waiting for you guys to figure out yourselves.”

“Why didn’t you guys just tell me? This has been the most confusing month of my life. I found out I’m in love with the boy I used to be massive rivals with and I almost died. Some help would have been much appreciated.”

“It wasn’t our place to tell you, was it? If we would have told you about being soulmates, then maybe the love wouldn’t be as strong,” Pidge admitted, hopping off her bed and walking to her dresser, “And besides, isn’t that the beauty of love? The confusion that comes with it makes it hard, but the realizations that stem from that confusion blooms into a rose: one of the most beautiful things in the world.”

Lance played with his hands. He loved everything about Keith, but was it possible for Keith to feel the same way?

Keith could have cared less about soulmates, he made that pretty clear. What if he didn’t really want Lance if he was actually his soulmate?

“Pidge, I love him so much that it hurts,” Lance whispered, watching the young girl turn around and face him. She gave him a slight smile, putting down the object she was previously holding. “I find love so hard to describe, it’s like… it’s like he and I speak the same language, but no one else understands it. When I’m around him, it feels like I’m not alone, as if this whole time I’ve been isolated from something and he’s just able to waltz in and change that. He heals me; he’s my medicine. That’s how it feels to love Keith Kogane, Pidge. It feels like I’m burning alive and also being saved at the same time.” Then he paused, gasping for breath.

“Lance, why are you telling this to me? I’m pretty sure Keith is just waiting for his soulmate to come and see him. You should be saying this stuff to him instead,” Pidge smirked.

“Pidge, that’s the issue!” Lance gasped, falling onto his back across her bed. “I don’t... I don’t think it’s reciprocated soulbond.”

Pidge paused. “What do you mean? You like him obviously, a lot! And his name is there in bold on your wrist, how could you not be soulmates?”

“I’ve, you know, loved him for months now,” Lance confessed. “He never said my name was on his wrist... And, that other night at dinner, he made it pretty clear he didn’t care about having a soulmate or not! I was sure it was unreciprocated on his end, that I was his but he wasn’t mine... But, what if I’m wrong?” He sighed, motioning to his wrist with anger. “What if he was made for me and I was never made for him? That this was the universe playing some cruel joke on me!”

Pidge gave him a hard stare. “Maybe he didn’t know how to react, if your name is on him,” she tried to comfort him. “You know how Keith is, he isn’t the most open person.”

“But, he is open with me, Pidge!”

“Well,” Pidge began, eyes adverting. “You love him regardless, even though that is really unheard of, falling in love with someone who isn’t your soulmate, that is... He loves you too! And like you said, if he really isn’t the soulmate type of person, he won’t care,” she tried to reason, turning to meet him with determination in her eyes. “I think you should go and talk to him, Lance. He loves you, and the proofs right there in your skin.”

Lance looked down at his wrist, a determined look appearing on his face. She was right. Soulmate or not, he had proof Keith loved him back.

And with that realization, Lance took off, giving Pidge a rough hug before sprinting out of her room.

For the first time since realizing this whole soulmate thing, he wasn’t scared. He wasn’t scared of scaring off Keith. Obviously, he did  _ something  _ right for the other to fall in love with him, the proof being written in his skin.

Would Keith still love him if he wasn’t his soulmate? If there really was an unreciprocated bond, could they make it work?

Lance was always one who believed in soulmates. He believed in the universe’s decisions. Afterall, that was all he knew growing up; reciprocated soulmates. So, what was he supposed to do? If there was someone else out there in the universe for him, what was Lance supposed to do? Ignore that connection?

He settled that right now, that didn’t matter.

For once in his life, Lance ignored his thoughts and trudged along. He refused to lose Keith, the boy he loved with all his heart. He refused to lose the person he treasured and adored, so he pushed himself to make his way out to the observation deck where he prayed he’d be. It was where Lance had first started having feelings, and that made it all more real. 

“Keith?” Lance’s breathy voice traversed through the air, finally being picked up by the boy in question. The boy turned around, meeting the eyes he dreaded to see. Tears pooled in Keith’s beautiful eyes, making Lance take a step closer, “Keith, please don’t cry. We need to talk,” Lance begged, holding up his wrist in a weak motion.

Despite the worry and fear he felt at the thought of an unreciprocated soulmate, he jumped for it, swallowing his worries for just a moment.

“Please, tell me it's my name written in your skin...”

Tears began to drip down Keith’s face, rolling down his cheeks and onto his sharp shoulders. Lance found it almost beautiful, but he hated to see Keith cry like this. Yet, he still refused to take a step forward, because for once in his life Lance didn’t feel like a smooth woman magnet. He just felt small, so petrified to hurt the boy in front of him with his words. 

Keith was also scared, knowing that he might never get a chance with Lance because he told him that soulmates didn’t matter to him. The guilt of the action was slowly weighing on him. How could Lance love him if he believed that all Keith wanted to do was brush off the fact that they were meant for each other?

“I never believed in soulmates, Lance. That’s why I said I didn’t care about them earlier this week. I was always trying to force my way out of situations in which I could fall in love. All I did at the Garrison was study and read; it helped me avoid real love while I sat inside and read the romance that I would never have. I liked it that way, because love hurts like hell. One minute you feel like you’re floating and in the next minute, you’re being swept away in the waves and drowning slowly.” He paused, looking away from him. “So, tell me, Lance, how the hell do I deal with the fact that I’m in love with the guy I always competed with?”

With his head still turned, Keith simply raised an arm, and for the first time ever Lance realized there were no leather gloves. 

There, written on the inside of his right wrist, was  _ his name _ .

Lance finally felt all the uncertainty that had weighed him down for months leave him. There was no unreciprocated soulbond.

They were completely, and utterly, made for each other.

Silence filled the deck. Keith was still crying, and Lance was feeling the tears come on too. He pushed them back though, refusing to give in to the need to run and sob into his pillows. He loved Keith, and if he wanted to stay with the boy, then he had to take risks. So he stepped forward, running his hand across the boy’s cheek and wiping some of his tears away. 

“I know it might be a little shocking,” Lance started, but Keith quickly cut him off. 

“A little shocking? It’s insane, Lance,” Keith let out a heartbroken laugh, still sniffling back his tears. “That’s what it is: insane.”

“Yes, I know, Keith. I need you to understand that somehow, the world decided that we were a good fit for each other. Whatever it is: Aphrodite, magic, or something else, we were made for each other for a reason. I think I’m realizing that I don’t need to know the reason why; I just need to have you,” Lance whispered, pressing his forehead against Keith’s. 

Keith pulled away, turning to face the space that surrounded them. He held out his wrist, rubbing his fingers over the name that pained him so much, “I’ll be honest for once in my life. I’m so terrified of giving my heart to you because of your sacrificial tendencies,” Keith let out a deep laugh, snorting a little bit as he calmed himself down. “But you’re perfect, Lance McClain, never let anyone tell you otherwise.”

“Keith,” Lance spoke, letting his breathing turn back to normal. The two boys caught eyes again, everything else around them fading to a blur. Is this what it felt like to be connected to someone forever? Lance didn’t speak another word for a couple minutes, basking in the glory that was Keith’s eyes. 

He began to take in all the features about the boy: how his lips curved up into a tight smile as he looked at the stars around him, how his hands shook when he was nervous, and how his hair flopped down onto his forehead so majestically. That was all Lance needed to see to say his next words. 

“I love you, if the soulmate thing on your wrist didn’t make it clear enough,” Lance let out, gripping onto Keith’s wrist. He trailed his hand down to the other boy’s hand, holding it tightly and rubbing circles on it, “Keith Kogane, I love you with all my heart.”

“I love you too, Lance. Even though you are the stupidest guy I have met and the worst at competitions, I still want to be with you forever.”

And that was all Lance needed to hear in order to lean down and plant a kiss on his hotheaded soulmate. 

When they pulled away, Keith huffed out a small laugh against Lance’s neck, the breath tickling him.

“You know,” Keith started slowly and quietly, “I keep thinking about how we met, and I keep trying to figure out how we got to this point,” he laughed. 

“Maybe we’ve been at this point for awhile,” Lance pointed out, pulling away. He looked down at Keith before his eyes trailed down to his arm. With a careful motion, he pulled Keith’s hand into his and ran his thumb over his wrist, right where his name sat. “It just took us awhile to realize it.”

* * *

The following morning, Lance woke feeling like for the first time since they left Earth, everything was just right. He went through the motions of his morning routine before making his way down the hall excitedly for breakfast. When he’d gotten to the dinning hall, he noticed that yet again, he was the last to arrive. It was nothing new at this point, he was always the type to sleep in.

He’d been greeted by Hunk, who’d happily spoke, “Good morning, Lance! Left your food goo in the kitchen!” He couldn’t help but feel warm and fuzzy inside, walking past his best friend, patting him on the shoulder.

“You know, this is why I love you,” he commented off handedly as he waved to Pidge who sat beside him. She waved back, eyebrows high up on her face as she casually looked over to Keith, who was already sitting in his seat.

Looking over to him now, he noticed Keith wasn’t wearing his jacket like he normally would during the morning. He’d looked up, smiling when their eyes met. And then, Lance noticed another thing.

Keith wasn’t wearing his gloves either.

He couldn’t help how the smile on his own face grew, and out of the sake of his own sanity, he turned back to Pidge and shrugged before walking toward the kitchen, not taking much into Keith’s attire.

When he’d made it to the back counter in the kitchen, he was no longer the only one who had taken in his appearance.

“Keith?” Shiro’s voice questioned carefully. “What happened to your gloves?”

And then there was silence.

And Lance froze for a moment, eyes trained on the castle wall in front of him, arms half extended for the bowl of food goo that still was sitting under the hot tray.

“Oh my goodness,” Coran had gasped. “Congratulations, my boy!”

“Huh? What’s happening?” Pidge questioned.

“Is that a soulmark?” Shiro was next to question, and then again, silence.

Pulling the bowl from under the hot tray, Lance turned just in time to see Keith look around the table with a small smile.

“Uh, yeah,” he responded sheepishly, pulling his hand up. “I didn’t see the point in wearing gloves anymore. I only wore them to hide...” He paused, not finishing the thought. “I didn’t know I had one until yesterday- a soulmark, that is,” he confessed.

And suddenly the team was erupting.

“Who is it?”

“Since when did this happen?”

“I’m so happy for you, Keith!”

“No, but seriously, who is it?”

As Lance stepped back into the dinning room, he watched as Keith’s eyes searched for his. He could see it in his expression, cheeks red and hands curled on the table, he was nervous. He couldn’t help how warm he felt inside.

“Are we talking about me?” Lance chimed in. The smile that curled on his face was painful, but it was ecstatic and he couldn’t help it when he felt the rush of laughter leave him.

“No, Lance, we’re talking about Keith’s soulmate actually...” Allura began before stopping herself. “Oh! Wait!”

The team erupted, and through it all, Lance laughed.

He made his way around the table to Keith, taking his seat beside him as he dropped a hand to his head, ruffling his hair.

And even through the team’s questions and screamed congratulations, all he could hear was Keith’s laughter.

* * *

It was the morning, and Keith had just woken up. He turned to his side, almost screaming as he saw another boy in his bed. He fell to the ground with a loud thump, groaning as he looked up at the now concerned face that came from over the bedside. 

“Keith, are you okay? Did I really freak you out that much?” Lance asked, smirking at the boy on the ground before letting out a loud yawn. He slowly got out of the bed, putting his hand out for Keith to take it. Keith begrudgingly took it, lifting himself off the ground with his other hand, “Jeez, I never knew that my soulmate was such a scaredy cat.” 

“Don’t test me,” Keith growled, walking to their now-shared bathroom, “Just because you are my soulmate does not mean that you are exempted from competitions and fights in the training deck.”

“Dang Keith, are you always this feisty in the morning? I honestly do not want to wake up with that in my room every day.”

Keith rolled his eyes, getting in the shower and leaving Lance to get changed out in clothes from last night. The events that lead to here were astonishing to Keith. Who knew he was going to be in love with and get to date his best friend? He smiled to himself, blasting his Ariana Grande music even louder in the bathroom. He could hear Lance faintly singing from outside the bathroom, and it made him laugh. 

How did he get so lucky?

His smile grew even wider, and Keith knew one thing for sure.

As long as he had Lance’s name written on his skin, he would never stop smiling.


End file.
